The
name "Benghazi" brings with it a lot of baggage—some of it earned
but most of it likely not. On September 11, 2012, a group of militants attacked
a diplomatic outpost and, through the early-morning hours of the next day, a
top-secret CIA annex in the Libyan city, resulting in the deaths of four
Americans, including a United States ambassador. As unclear as the resulting
dissections of what happened and what didn't happen on that day—as well as in
the days, weeks, and even months leading up to it—might be, 13
Hours is helpful in the way it shows that the situation on the ground was
far more confounding.

The
movie doesn't quite want to admit that reality. The screenplay by Chuck Hogan
(adapted from Mitchell Zuckoff's non-fiction account) treats the frustrations
and strategic opinions of those on the ground as fact, without offering anything
beyond a broad concept of the bigger picture.

For
example, a CIA analyst calls either the Pentagon or a military airbase in Italy
(The movie is very sketchy on specifics beyond the here and now of the
situation), and she requests that an F-16 fly over the annex, hoping that such a
display of might will scare away the attackers. Whoever is on the other end of
the call states that she doesn't have the authority to give that order. In
response, she argues that her authority comes from the possibility that she and
others likely will be killed if it doesn't happen. The next shot is of that
airbase—its fighter jets sitting unattended on the runway.

It's a
loaded piece of editing—one that eliminates whatever decision-making process
is happening on the other end of that call. Instead, the movie jumps to a
conclusion of impassivity or even apathy on the part of the powers that be. The
jets never did arrive in Benghazi, but the movie never wonders if such a move
would have been the correct one in the first place. From what we see here, it
very well could have been an unwise decision, considering that even the people
on the ground are repeatedly surprised by the amount and strength of the
attackers' firepower.

These
potshots, indirectly aimed at the usual suspects of partisan politicians and
conspiracy theorists alike, are few and far between, although their number and
frequency increase as the story unfolds. This is a movie that suggests it's
better to err on the side of reckless action than to do so on the side of
calculated inaction. Hogan and director Michael Bay seem to be arguing that
"something" could have been done, but they never stop to consider if
that enigmatic "something" should have been done.

When it
sticks to what actually happened, the movie paints a bleak, desperate picture of
the situation in Benghazi before and during the attack. The first section of the
movie follows the security team assigned to protect the annex as they escort CIA
personnel gathering intelligence in the city. Almost immediately, it becomes
clear that this place has become a powder keg after the fall of Libya's dictator
Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Militias have free rein in the streets with weapons
taken from Gaddafi's arsenal, which are now being sold in the city's central
market.

Repeatedly,
the members of the annex's contracted security team—made up of Jack Silva
(John Krasinski), Tyrone Woods (James Badge Dale), Kris Paronto (Pablo
Schreiber), Dave Benton (David Denman), John Tiegen (Dominic Fumusa), and Mark
Geist (Max Martini)—find themselves in a situation in which they have no idea
who is part of which local militia and with whom that group's loyalties lie. On
the night of the attack, the team arrives at the diplomatic outpost (A decision
that the annex's chief, played—in another loaded choice—with whiny
indecisiveness by David Costabile, discourages), where Ambassador Chris Steven
(Matt Letscher) and a member of his security team were killed. They discover men
with assault rifles walking around the compound. Men with cellphones are taking
pictures and making calls, and no one knows if the result will be support or
another attack. A commander in the militia helping the United States even calls
the leader of the group that attacked the diplomatic outpost and will eventually
assault the annex ("I'm a good guy, but I know the bad guys").

The
point, which is dreadfully effective throughout the movie, is that confusion
ruled over these events. As portrayed in the movie itself, the majority of that
confusion is intentional, although it should be noted that a good portion of it
also comes from Hogan and Bay. As noted earlier, Hogan's screenplay omits vital
context (which could have worked if the movie had remained entirely isolated to
the attacks), and Bay's typical style of visual overload, with its reliance on
rapid cuts and flashy cinematography (provided by Dion Beebe), does no favors
for the logistics of what is happening.

What we
learn is that a lot of things went wrong that night/morning in Benghazi, that a
lot of them were unavoidable, and that the number of "what ifs" is
incalculable. 13 Hours doesn't want to
accept those facts, and its attempts to put forward simple solutions to a
complex situation don't do justice to it or the people involved.